Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives $158.20 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $158.20.

INGR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens decreased their price target on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Ingredion by 653.3% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:INGR opened at $130.39 on Friday. Ingredion has a 1 year low of $109.51 and a 1 year high of $155.44. The business has a fifty day moving average of $131.83 and a 200-day moving average of $136.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. The stock has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ingredion will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

About Ingredion

Ingredion Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells sweeteners, starches, nutrition ingredients, and biomaterial solutions derived from wet milling and processing corn, and other starch-based materials to a range of industries in North America, South America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.